Bookworm Blogger: Mrs. Leakey Is Freaky!

Hello, my Pretties!

 

How's this for a change of pace?  I have a book review...on a children's book!  That's right.  You can add this to the "book" file in this blog.  I'm thinking of doing more of these since I am an avid reader, always have been, always will be.

 

Just a quick little background info:

 

My eldest daughter, Madison, is in third grade.  Our school district participates in what we call the Accelerated Reader program.  All the students in elementary participate. 

 

What is the Accelerated Reader program? 

It is a program that was put in place to motivate children to read more.  They check out books from their library and each book is ranked according to Reading Level and is allotted a certain number of Points based on Reading Level and difficulty. Once the child has read the book, they take a test on the computer that was created for that specific book.  If the child passes the test, they obtain the Points.  The Points then begin to accumulate and that's when the awards come into play.  For the children that read X amount of books in the current six weeks grading period, they are allowed to attend a "celebration" where they get treats and get to play games as a reward.  At the end of the school year, trophies are given to the one boy and one girl who read more and accumulated more Points than all the others.

 

So, I took it upon myself to start reading the books that my daughter checked out from the library.  This way I can question her about the book and I will be able to tell if she did in fact read the book and if she understood what she read.  This is me trying to become a better, more involved parent.

 

And today she checked out this book.

 

Ms. Leakey Is Freaky! by Dan Gutman, pictures by Jim Paillot.  Published 2011.

This appears to be #12 in the My Weird School Daze series.  It contains 11 chapters and a total of 102 pages.

 

My daughter just got this book today and is on Chapter 5.  I read the entire book in about 40 minutes.

 

My Review:

 

This was the first book I read in this series and I loved it.  It is so witty!  I found myself smiling throughout the entire book and even laughed out loud too.

 

The story is told through the voice of A.J. who is a student at Ella Mentry School.  (Haha.)  I don't believe his age or grade is mentioned.

 

A.J. is a boy with funny commentary that keeps the reader entertained which is very important in a children's book, I think.

 

The overall concept of the book is to teach children how to be healthy. 

 

The school hires a new health teacher by the name of Ms. Leakey.  She is identified as a "health nut".  She tries to teach the children to say no to unhealthy foods, sugars, fats and yes to fruits and vegetables in such extreme ways such as sticking her hands into A.J.'s mouth to try and pull out a bite of Twinkie.  Extreme?   Sure.  Funny?  Yes.

 

Ms. Leakey singles out A.J. because she feels he is a leader at the school.  And if she can get him to start eating healthy,  the other children are soon to follow.  And because of this, she keeps such a close eye on A.J. to make sure he isn't making unhealthy food choices, that she appears to be everywhere.  Including at the bottom of a candy bin in the grocery store and under A.J.'s bed.

 

The author gives out great ideas on how to be healthier all the while being funny and entertaining for the children.  But there are moments when it gets a little too scientific for young kids.  Like when he states the ingredients in a Twinkie.

 

"Dextrose!   Sodium acid pyrophosphate!  Diglycerides!  Polysorbate 60!  Partially hydrogenated animal shortening!  You want to put those chemicals into your body?"

 

When my daughter was reading that, she couldn't pronounce the words.  Heck, neither could I!  Haha.

And the story has a good lesson for us all.  Eating healthy and being healthy is best but treats are OK too in moderation.

 

I enjoyed reading this little story and I hope that you enjoyed my review.  Something different, I know, but different can be good too.

 

I recommend this book for those of you who have children in "Ella Mentry School".  Haha.

 

Luv & Luk,
--L.

 

♥ I did this blog post on my Samsung Galaxy 3. ♥